Since yesterday afternoon, Lyle had not been at the company, so Mina had to handle his work.
Realizing that the new movie script had some instability, she immediately called down to the editing room to find Donna.
“Editor Donna, please go to the deputy general director's office for a moment.”
“Miss Mina, editor Donna didn't come to work today, she left the company yesterday afternoon. We haven't been able to contact her since this morning.” A newly recruited female editor picked up the phone and answered.
“Is that so? Alright.”
Putting down the landline phone, Mina took out her cell phone to call Lyle to report on the situation of the script and the fact that the company could not contact Donna.
He told her that Donna's younger sister had just passed away and told her to notify the company's union office to prepare to go to the funeral.
Mina was about to contact Edana when Steven appeared. He said that the head office in country Y had decided to expand the eco-tourism model to three more provinces, including province Q, which was her hometown. The chosen location was not too far from the village where she was born.
Mina was so happy that she was choked with emotion, continuously bowing her head to thank him.
Seeing that it was almost lunchtime, Steven invited her to have lunch with him and she happily agreed, leaving the company with him.
The elevator stopped at the fifth floor. Wynn and Rose were waiting outside. When he saw Mina and Steven, Wynn quickly took Rose's hand and walked in.
The atmosphere inside the elevator was extremely stuffy, Mina just wanted to quickly reach the ground floor. The elevator went down one floor and picked up a few more people, and soon it was full.
After a while of jostling, Mina was thrown backward, almost hitting the elevator, luckily Wynn reached out to catch her.
Feeling his hand on the back of her head, she looked up, but his eyes looked away.
Arriving at the ground floor, everyone dispersed in all directions. Wynn pulled Rose's hand and quickly walked out the main door.
Mina felt her heart ache, thinking that she had to let him go, not to expect anything more.
She knew that he and Rose were childhood friends, growing up together, and Rose was much younger and more beautiful than her.
When the afternoon filming had just ended, Wynn hurriedly left the set to prepare for the evening show.
Rose looked at Wynn's figure and felt sad. His infatuated eyes, warm hugs, and passionate kisses in the scenes made her heart sink even deeper into the abyss of hopeless love.
“Drink this to keep warm.”
John walked over, put a cup of hot chocolate in Rose's hand, and sat down next to her. His baby face and warm smile were always the points of attraction that made magazines hunt him down, inviting him to take advertising photos for winter fashion.
“Thank you.” Rose said softly.
“Later, I will take you home.”
“No need, I can take a taxi to avoid being photographed by the press and published in the newspaper.”
John smiled lightly and nodded. These past few days, he had seen her hitchhiking with Wynn, thinking that if Wynn came back early, he would have a chance to pick up the beauty, but it seemed that he didn't have the chance.
He didn't know when her image had been lingering in his mind. The first time John met Rose was at the dance practice room when she had just arrived at Global Group and kept following Wynn to watch him dance.
Because John wanted to see her often, he kept watching her. Every day that Wynn had a dance practice schedule, he would come and pretend to visit his sister, but in reality, it was to see the person of his dreams.
A long working day ended in exhaustion for both employees and big bosses of Global Group because of the heavy workload in the last months of the year.
Leaving the company, Dylan slowly drove along the white road. Looking at the frost covering the tree branches, a few couples holding hands and walking under the falling snowflakes, his heart felt cold.
Stopping in front of the group of people entering the church, vaguely seeing a familiar figure, he quickly rolled down the windshield to see clearly but then he was disappointed immediately because that girl was not his Nancy.
The melancholy sound of the winter afternoon bell resounded, each gust of wind accidentally stirred his nostalgia, making him feel like his heart was broken.
Her departure left him with a stormy sky, his life was covered in white mourning. White snow can erase everything in front of his eyes, but it cannot erase her image in his heart, it only makes him miss and resent her even more.
While he was absent-minded, the phone rang, pulling him out of his chaotic memories. On the other side of the phone, Stephen's voice was neither fast nor slow.
“I met the chairman of LE bank. Daniel said he would intervene to get the banks to withdraw the lawsuit, wait until we buy back SN group and Rosalind will pay them back later.”
“Yes, just do that.”
“Where are you?”
“Almost home, I have a party tonight.”
“Is that so? Okay, I'll hang up the phone now.”
Throwing the phone aside, Stephen drove home to take a shower, change clothes, and head straight to the bar.
He wasn't like Dylan, no matter how sad he was, he wouldn't drink at home. Today he wanted to have a few Short Drink cocktails.
He wanted to do so, but Nancy's advice kept ringing in his ears, so he decided to only drink one glass, sipping it little by little as if he was afraid it would all run out.
The bartender looked at him for a while then turned back to continue mixing drinks for the others.
“Waiter, another bottle of wine?”
Hearing the familiar voice, Stephen quickly turned to look. He gaped when he saw Wynn's rumored lover sitting on the chair, her hair disheveled and looking very miserable.
“Rose, you just became famous but have already fallen?” He stepped forward and teased.
“Oh, let's see. Turns out you're the deputy general director. What does my falling have to do with you? People with positions like you like to show off to artists, don't they?”
“Hey, Rose, what do you mean by people with positions?”
“It means having that authority. Did you buy a degree? So simple but you don't understand.”
After saying that, she picked up the bottle of wine and drank it all in one gulp.
Stephen's eyes turned into two snails. It seemed that this girl had a very high alcohol tolerance. Just by looking at the empty bottles lined up in a row in front of her, he knew.
“Drink less. Are you planning to go home by Babylon Candle?” Stephen said.
“Deputy general manager, I want to meet Mr. Wynn.” Rose suddenly leaned towards Stephen and sobbed.
“You see him all day on set and you're not bored yet?”
She shook her head, tears continuously flowing. Stephen felt heartbroken, took out his phone, and called Wynn, pretending to invite Wynn to come here to drink with him. As the one behind the love, he understood Rose's feelings.
Wynn received a call from Stephen as soon as he got off the stage, so he hurriedly ran to the address Stephen said.
He also wanted to drink outside but feared Lyle would scold him. Now that Stephen invited him, he was no longer afraid.
If his brother asked, he would say that his superior invited him, if he didn't go, it would be like he didn't respect his superior.
Poor Wynn, he had just rushed to the bar, but before he could drink a drop of alcohol, Stephen assigned him the task of taking Rose home.
Seeing his unwilling appearance, Stephen curled his lips.
“What's wrong? Do you need me to buy you some wine to take home?”
“Do you think I wanted to drink so I ran here?”
Wynn glared at Stephen and carried Rose into the car. In a drunken state, she kept calling his name. He used the seat belt to tie her close to the co-driver's seat.
Then, he pressed the car's accelerator pedal and drove straight. He was afraid that if he put her in the back seat, she would shake and hit her head.
When they arrived, Wynn had just helped Rose lie down on the bed when she reached out to pull him down, burying her head in his chest and saying words of love.
He gently pushed her away, speaking in a low voice.
“You're drunk, go to sleep. I have to go home.”
“Mr. Wynn, is there anything I'm not good at? Tell me, I'll fix it.”
“Rose, everything about you is good, it's just... I can't give you my feelings. I've fallen in love with someone else.”
Rose burst into tears as she watched the man's figure disappear. Wynn locked the door and threw the key back into the yard.
Tonight, the snow was falling so hard that he was shivering. He unconsciously drove to Mina's house.
The white house was as white as the snow, the light on the first-floor window through the curtains emitted a dim yellow light.
Wynn silently looked up there for a long time then turned the car back. The sad, mournful love song echoed throughout the journey.